Mega Native American New Year’s Pow Wow: Where will you be when the sun rises January 1, 2008?

by Jamie Rhein on

“Where will your spirit be when the sun rises?” is the question asked by the organizers of the New Millennium First Peoples’ World’s Fair and Pow Wow. At the end of December 1999 to January 2000, tribal nations gathered in Tuscon, Arizona for the first celebration of their survival, and to honor “Mother Earth,” showcase their culture heritage and highlight their contributions to the world. The changing from one century to another was significant to the multiple day event.

This year marks the third mega celebration. Slated to happen every four years, this New Millennium First Peoples’ World’s Fair and Pow Wow called “Thunder in the Desert” (Dec. 28-Jan. 6) will be bigger than the last. More than 150 tribal nations from North America, along with indigenous people from other countries, will gather at Rillito Raceway Park for 10 days of sharing traditions and customs with each other and offer the bounty of their art, crafts, music, dance, story-telling and food to the public who is invited to attend.

I browsed through Thunder in the Desert’s happenings and they look superb. I can’t imagine how a person could go to this event and be disappointed. These are the best dancers, the best artists, the best story-tellers around. The hard thing will be picking between the options.

The Web site also has a link to lodging in Tuscon. Proceeds to this event will help pay for scholarships. If you can’t make this year’s, the next one will be Dec. 30, 2011 to Jan. 8, 2012.

How to be a good dinner guest in France

by Martha Edwards on

My dad lived the high life in Europe for a good chunk of his adult life, and as a Commanding Officer for the Royal Canadian Air Forces, he was treated to many fine dinners at many fine establishments. So you can imagine the lectures I got when I put my elbows on the table or, heaven forbid, asked for ketchup for my food. “If you ask for ketchup in Paris, you’d get kicked out of the restaurant,” he’d say as I rolled my eyes.

As painful as it was when I was a surly teenager, I’m kind of glad for the etiquette lessons of my youth because I it gives me the chance to escape being labelled a stereotypically rude North American when travelling. Still, it can’t hurt to brush up on table manners. Here are some tips for being a good dinner guest in France from MSNBC:

  • Don’t arrive exactly on time for a dinner party. Come about 15 minutes to half an hour late
  • Don’t bring wine — it implies that you don’t trust the host’s selection. Bring sweets or flowers — but not chrysanthemums (they signify death) and not yellow ones (they signify an unfaithful husband)
  • Men should wear nice jackets to dinner and women should wear high heels
  • Always keep your hands on the table, but not the elbows.
  • When greeting, women can kiss women and women can kiss men, but two men should never kiss so save yourself the embarrassment of leaning in (cringe!) If you’re in Alsace or Brittany, be prepared for up to three kisses but don’t initiate them yourself.
  • Never pour your own wine at a restaurant. Want water? You’ll have to ask.
  • Eat asparagus with your fingers and use your digits to get shellfish out of the shell, but otherwise use your utensils.
  • Always eat with your fork in the left hand, knife in the right. And hold your fork properly — it’s not a shovel!
  • If it’s a five-course meal, the only course you can refuse is the fourth one (aka, the Cheese course.) If you have dietary restrictions, let them know beforehand because it’s uncouth to refuse anything.
  • Don’t cut your salad — roll it with your fork.

Cafe-in-a-box

by Jerry Guo on

For all you lucky New Yorkers, from now until December 29th, make your way to the Time Warner Center, and you can sip a nice cup of espresso next to this cafe-in-a-box. It can transform itself in 90 seconds flat, and in other forms, can function as kitchen, dining room, bathroom, bedroom, living room, or library. I do wonder who’d want to read a book in basically what is a crate.

What’s interesting about this cafe is there’s a) a Mac sitting on the counter, apparently just there to look cool b) a toilet, which kinda undermines the aforementioned cool factor.

Photo of the Day (12/6/07)

by Neil Woodburn on


Today’s Photo of the Day comes to us from North Korea–site of my most recent vacation. And yes, I’ve nominated one of my own photographs for today’s honor.

I personally find this photograph interesting because I was naturally concerned that there would be very little food for us to eat in North Korea. I was wrong. Although the general population might be suffering from malnutrition, the government has made sure that tourists have access to all the food they need. And, it’s often presented in the quaint style featured above. Just don’t ask me what it was. Other than rice, bean curds, and kimchi, I rarely knew what I was putting in my mouth; but I suppose I was fortunate enough to be putting anything in there to begin with.

Today also kicks off a new travel feature here on Gadling, Infiltrating North Korea. If you’ve ever wondered what the Hermit Kingdom is like, be sure to check it out.

How clean are those ice cubes again?

by Grant Martin on

I’m used to refraining from ice cubes in my beverages while in third world countries. But after the Chicago Sun Times published an article on ice cube quality in the greater Chicago area, I might have to start declining in the great US of A as well. In a series of tests across 49 fast food and casual dining restaurants, The Sun found that over 43% of them had higher bacterial levels than the toilet water in the Sun Building. Twenty percent of the samples had bacterial levels that were considered “high.”

My favorite part of the article is where they actually list the restaurants where they found high percentages of bacteria in the ice cubes. It’s great to call out these businesses on their cleanliness and I’d like to continue that tradition here. Take heed, fair Chicagoans: Restaurants in Chicago with high levels of total coliform bacteria:

  • Applebee’s at 7519 S. Cicero
  • Chipotle Mexican Grill at 10 S. LaSalle
  • Starbucks at 444 N. Michigan
  • Asiago Express at 176 N. Wells
  • Outback Steakhouse at 216 E. Golf Rd. in Schaumburg
  • Burger King at 6950 S. Pulaski
  • Caribou Coffee at 3025 N. Clark
  • Rock Bottom Restaurant and Brewery at 1 W. Grand (I think I ate here last November!)
  • The Drake Hotel at 140 E. Walton
  • The Hyatt Regency Chicago at 151 E. Wacker
  • The Sheraton Chicago at 301 E. North Water

Before you go out and get your immunizations boosted, remember that fecal coliform aren’t necessarily bad for you. While they do hold the potential to cause illness, the body digests and even requires certain bacterium. But it is disturbing to find that almost half of the ice cubes out there at public restaurants are dirtier than toilet water. I’ll definitely think twice about getting ice next time I’m out to lunch with the guys.